Obstacles to participation

The degree of participation varies greatly from site to site and
country to country. There are a large number of factors that can facilitate
participation or hinder it. These factors can be external to the community such
as the type of political system, or they can be internal to the community such
as local cultural norms.

Political obstacles can occur in centrally planned countries or in
de facto authoritarian regimes. Participation that empowers local groups
to chart their own directions for development could challenge the status quo and
may be perceived as threatening.

Figure

Similarly, administrative systems that are highly centralized and
dependent on controlled planning and blueprint approaches are not conducive to
participatory and adaptive approaches.

Finally, social and cultural and historical obstacles may prove to
be extremely challenging especially to the question of who participates.
Equitable participation by marginal groups (women, tribal minorities,
uneducated, etc.) will require efforts to address cultural norms that relegate
these groups to the
periphery.